I actually have been meaning to post about this also… but in short, in a dialogue with the community, as jointly engaged in a long-term relationship, any decent community manager will have a lot of impact on the community culture, as any authority in good standing will do… the whole gig is to maintain a trusting relationship with the community, as joint participants in a site, a social setting, built around and hosted by the corporation (this is not etribes, this is a community dedicated to an ongoing relationship with a game, product, brand, etc.). The community manager guides it, at times with an iron fist, but only so long as their actions can be accepted and seen by the community as good for the community. It’s very much a case of leading by running slightly faster than the others, only with a handful of bright shiney objects to occasionally use for course correction as well as an ultimate authority to basically boot anyone who gets too far out of line.

And in any relationship, what individual has carte blanche to level a shotgun and let fly? If it’s an ongoing relationship, a disasterous event (like, say, the closure of a long-awaited MMO before it launches, which I had the honor to be a part of with the Myst community and Uru… and I do mean honor, it became an experience that forged strong bonds among those of us who were there… even me, the face of the bad guy, as it were…) gets dealt with honestly and directly… but always with the view that the goal is prolonged positive relationship, and if that ain’t happening, something else needs to. It’s a very active and meaningful role, and I would say that many communities who are not well managed show the effects… the Well or the e-playa come to mind… they can become very restrictive, unfriendly, closed, and bitter.

More on this later, gotta go be with the baby!